Diving-chamber for submarine operations



A. 0, TESCH. DIVING CHAMBER FOR SUBMARINE OPERATIONS APPLICATION FILEDJUNE 15, 1920- 1,3 9,750, Patented June :7, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

{DJ-FE sch A. 0. TESCH. DIVING CHAMBER FOR SUBMARINE OPERATIONS-APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15. 1920- 1,380,750. I v PatentedJune 7, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- To all whom it may concern PATENT orrlcn.

, ALEXANDER o. TESCH, or GHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Myrna-CHAMBER FOR SUBMARINE orERArIoNs; I

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER O. TESCH, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Diving-Chambers forSubmarine Operations; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for sub-' marine operations, and aimsto generally improve the construction of such apparatus, whereby adesired operation may be accomplished quickly, efficiently and with theex ertion of a minimum amount of effort on the part of the operator.

The invention resides in the novel features of construction,combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described in connection with the accompanying drawings, and thenparticularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section through an apparatus,constructed in accordance with my invention, F. Fig. 2 is a section'onthe line 2-2 of Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through one of thegrappling devices; and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4.--4 of Fig. 3. r i

Referring to the drawings in detail, 10 designates a chamber or vesselof any desired shape, and formed from any desired material, havingsuflicient strength to resist a heavy exterior pressure withoutdistortion. Preferably this chamber is of substantially cylindricalshape, being closed at its upper and lower ends by heads 11 and 12,respectively, and provided with a flattened side 13 to accommodatedevices which will be referred to more particularly hereinafter. Theupper head 11 is provided with a suitably closed manhole 14 to permitaccess to the interior of'the chamber, and suitable cable connections.15' are provided whereby the chamber may be lowered into. or raised fromthe water, while to stabilize the cham her and cause it to. sink, Iattach thereto weights 16. Interiorly of the chamber, are providedsuitable air producing and purify ing devices 17 and in the side and endwalls of the chamber, are provided any desired number of windows andlight-projecting V Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed il'une 15, 1920. Serial No 389,255.

Patented June 7, 1921.

I devices 18, whereby an operator within the chamber may properlynavigate and control the apparatus. Safety devices in the form of plates19 are provided to be SWung over the window and light-projectingopenings to exclude water from the chamber in the'event of breakage ofthe transparent material covering said openings. 7 H

I have provided propelling and steering means operable from the interiorof the chamber, whereby the apparatus when submerged, may be navigatedat the will of its occupants and independently of persons or devicesupon the surface. The propelling means consists of a plurality ofpropellers 20 arranged exteriorly of the chamber and journaled 'onshafts which extend into the chamber and have fixed thereto -miter gears21. Meshing with these gears are similar gears 22 on a shaft 23, whichis journaled in the chamber. An additional gear'24 is provided on theshaft 23, and this gear meshes with a gear 25 on a horizontal motorshaft 26. Thus when the shaft 26 is rotated its movement will betransmitted through the shafts and gears just described-to thepropellers.

The steermgmechanlsm consists of one or more rudders 27 on a shaft 28journaled in bearings 29 secured'to thefoutside of the chamber. A gear30 onthe shaft 28 meshes With a gear 31 on a shaft which extends intothe chamber, and this latter shaft has fixed thereto a hand wheel 32which, upon rotation. will swing the rudders as will be apparent.

A motor 33 is provided for 'driving the shaft 26, and said shaft inaddition to the gear 25, is provided with a second gear 34- which mesheswith a gear 35 on a stub shaft meshing with gears 'and46, respectively,

on the inner ends ofbrush shafts which extend through the side wall ofthe-"chamber bearings projecting from the sidewall of.

and carry at their outer ends, exteriorly of the chamber, brushes 4'?and 48, respectively. Thus power may be transmitted from the motorthrough the shafts and gears just described to rotate the brushes forany desired purpose, as for instance, cleaning'the side of a sunkenship. I conventionally illustrated at 49, may be provided on the shafts26 and 39 in order that the motor may be allowed to run free withoutoperating either the propellers or the brushes and in order that eitherthe brushes or propellers maybe operated independently with respect toeach other. If desired, shafts other than shaft 39 may be operated fromthe gear 35 for imparting motion to the chamber or other devicesassociated with the apparatus. A pair of such shafts are illustrated at50 in Fig. 2 of the drawings but the devices they may operate, have notbeen shown.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that the chamber may benavigated to any desired position, while submerged by an operator withinthe chamber, and that when brought into juxtaposition, as for instancewith the side of a sunken ship, the brushes 47 and 48 may be operated toclean accumulated matter therefrom; i 7

It is desirable that an apparatus such as the present be equipped withgrappling'devices, indicated at A, operable from the interior of thechamber-to grip objects exteriorly thereof in order to raise suchobjects to the surface orto move them while submerged, and Ihaveprovidedan improved grapple for such purposes, constructed as shownin Fig. 3, which is as follows:

Through an opening in -a wall of the chamber I pass a flanged tube 51and secure it rigidly to thechamber by passingbolts through the flangeand the wall of the chamber. This tube is interiorly screw-threadedthroughout a portion of its'length, and passing therethrough, is asecond tube 52 exteriorly screw-threaded and engaging the interiorthreads of the first tube. Tube 52 projects beyond the outer endof tube51, and is provided with a plurality of pairs of ears through which passpins 53 having journaled thereon toothed segments 54 to which aresecuredcurved gripping jaws 55. Passing through the tube 52 is an exte'riorlythreaded sleeve 56, the threads -of' which mesh with the teeth ofsegments 54, whereby rotation of said sleeve relative to thetube 52,will swing the jaws toward or away from each other to either grip orrelease an object therebetween. Angular adjustment or movementof thejaws toward and away from the chamber may be accomplished by rotatingthe tube 52 because of its threaded engagement with the fixed tube 51. Acrank 57 on the tube 52 and a similarcrank 58 on the sleeve 56 providemeans interiorly of the Clutch members,

,eXteriorly threaded tube,

chamber, whereby said tube and sleeve may be conveniently rotated.

Passing through the sleeve 56 is a rod or shaft 59 which is threaded atits outer end to receive a hook 60, by which the apparatus is secured toa ship. In the drawings, Ihave shown a hook or the like provided at oneend with an internal threaded opening suspended-by a cable 62 from aship. When the shaft 59 is secured to this, the hook is firstgotten intoposition 'to receive the threaded end of the shaft by the grappling jaws55, after which the shaft is rotated. If desired, a tool or thelik'e'may be secured to the shaft 59 in place of the hook and operatedfor various purposes either independently or in conjunction with thegripping jaws 55. 7

Packing glands are provided between the shaft 59 and sleeve56, betweenthe sleeve and the tube 52, and between the tube 52 and tube 51, inorder to prevent leakage of water around these parts of the apparatus,and'if desired, a coil spring 61 may, be interposed between the innerend of sleeve 56, and a collar on the shaft 59 in order that the tube'60 maybe permitted'to yield outwardly slightly to better engage anobject to be operated upon. 1

I have disclosedmy invention in the best form lmown to me at present,but as the several parts of the device are subject to change, by theemployment ofordinary mechanical skill, I limit myself tothe use anddevelopment of .my invention, only by the terms of the appended claims.v

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a grapple includingrelatively movable gripping jaws, a rotary sleeve for operating saidjaws, a rod yieldably held within said sleeve and adapted to receive onone end a tool, aid tool to operate in conjunc: tion with said grippingjawsf 2. A gripping device for diving bells com? prising an interiorlythreaded tube, an ex teriorly threaded tube arranged within said fixedtube with its threads meshing with the threads of said fixed tube,gripping jaws including toothed segments pivoted to said an exteriorlythreaded sleeve within said exteriorly threaded tube, the threads ofsaid sleeve meshing with-the teeth of said segments, means for rotatingsaid sleeve, means for rotating said exteriorly threaded tube, a shaftpassing through the said sleeve, and a tool carried by said shaft. V

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand atChicago, in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois.

ALEXANDER o'. *rnsori.

